PLEA Network

28 August 2018, The Guardian, ‘No real appetite’: former farmers chief lashes ministers over climate link to drought. Brent Finlay, former president of the National Farmers’ Federation, says Scott Morrison and Barnaby Joyce are the latest who are failing the bush. The former president of the National Farmers’ Federation, Brent Finlay, has accused politicians of “jumping in front of the cameras” while shirking effective policy work on drought and climate change. As Scott Morrison and his special drought envoy, Barnaby Joyce, toured south-west Queensland on Tuesday, Finlay described the former deputy prime minister and agriculture minister as the last in a long line of ministers who had “no real appetite” for national drought policy in a changing climate. “Climate change and connectivity are the two biggest issues facing the bush. Climate change is real and we have to have a national drought policy framed on what we know about climate change – the two are interlinked,” Finlay told Guardian Australia. “Instead of jumping in front of the cameras when a drought is on, we need them to do the grunt work on effective financial measures that allow our farmers to build up cash reserves in the good times to draw upon when the dry comes again.” He also called on governments to start rewarding good farmers who prepare for drought rather than the “less efficient” farmers. Finlay said politics had caused a failure of a national drought policy which should apply some structure to how farmers cope in drought and the nature of government assistance. “I went to Labor and the Coalition in 2013 when nowhere in Australia was in drought,” Finlay said. “The Labor government had dropped the exceptional circumstances funding program and I made the comment, this is gone now, what is the national drought policy? “Labor said they would do a policy before the 2013 election. [Former Coalition agriculture shadow spokesman] John Cobb said there would be something on drought. When Barnaby was appointed, he said it will be in the agriculture white paper. It was not there. Read more here